Quote:
Originally Posted by El Chaba
I will reinforce and expand on a point mentioned by some others. A camping bike and a randonneur bike are two different things. At quick glance, they may share some features, but the intended use is quite different. This point goes to the weight difference. A proper randonneur bike should ideally be made with nice light tubing…probably lighter than a racing bike, everything else being equal. All of the added on items are there to make things more convenient on a long ride. To make all of it work properly without messing things up is not so simple a task and it is a recipe for a bike builder to go crazy, broke or both. The few who master the task are to be commended. Unless you are fully committed to going down the rabbit hole, there is no reason that somebody couldn’t do long events/rides very comfortably on a nice racing style bike that accommodates the tire width needed for the surfaces to be encounters (I should note that I am not a full participant in the current mega wide tire trend). Beyond that, a fully dedicated bike would only provide some marginal gains like, perhaps: slightly wider tires that would likely be an advantage on only the worst sections of road; better mounting provisions for fenders; assuming rim brakes, maybe mounts for brazed on centerpulls which are more powerful than longer reach sidepulls; a nice secure mounting for a handlebar bag away from the bars a bit. ( I find cluttered bars a huge distraction that only increases with the length of a ride).
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This is exactly right! A rando bike is really optimized for … randonneuring, i.e. going 400-1200km as fast as possible. If you’re going on a 100-200km Sunday ride on pavement with your friends, you’ll always prefer a true road bike. If you plan to go on a 2+ week tour, you’ll need a true touring/camping bike with tubing stout enough to carry 30+ lbs of gear.